Severn Trent Water

mlewisjr

I was paying monthly fixed payments of £45 per month, I found it to be rather pricey so I gave the water meter I go based upon the fact there are just two of us in the household with visits from family now and then.
In all honesty I thought water meter would be cheaper, the payment plan was split in to two 6 month payments so when the first payment came through at around £350 I was rather surprised. Nonetheless, I gave it another 6 months hoping we would be more aware and take action to reduce the water we use but when the final bill came through at around £330 I knew the water meter wasn't for us.
Are there any other options out there?

Many thanks.

macman

If you've gone more than 12m then you can't now have the meter disregarded and return to RV billing.

matelodave

Have you tried regularly reading your water meter yourself to see how much you are using and when. You should then be able to reduce your consumption a bit. The average water consumption for two people is about 110cum a year, that's 2 cu.m a week which is quite a lot of water to be using (If you used an average of 110 !!! then you should be paying about £320 a year plus a surface water charge of approx. £100 - which you could get waived if you can prove your gutters and drive don't drain into the sewer)
I'm assuming that your bills are based on actual readings and not guesstimates as you seem to be using nearly double the average. Have you checked that you don't have any leaks?
If you monitor it yourself you can control your consumption rather than just waiting for the bill to come in and wondering why it's so high.


Since our leak last year I've been a bit more water aware and have been checking my meter weekly and we seldom use more that 1cu.m a week for the two of us. It goes up to 1.5 when I wash our two cars and caravan. We'd have to use over 3 cu.m a week (150 a year)just to equal the non metered charge where we live


Try taking shorter showers or shallower baths, don't let water run down the sink when washing, rinsing or cleaning your teeth. Some water companies supply water restrictors for free which you can fit onto your taps or shower to reduce the flow rate. Put a brick into your toilet cistern to reduce it's capacity and only use your washing machine & dishwasher with a full load.


As Macman says if you've had the meter for more than a year then you can't revert back.

Cardew

As said above there is no way that consumption for two people with Severn Trent should cost £680 a year.


for 2013/14 the combined water sewerage charge is £2.47 a cubic metre. Standing charges are approx. £40 a year. SWD varies according to type of property.


Unless you water the garden all the time!! you probably have a leak.